Omicron BA.2 Sub-Variant Close to 100% Dominant in South Africa
- Sub-variant more transmissible than original omicron variant
- Omicron was discovered in southern Africa in November
Commuters wearing protective face masks cross Strand Street in Cape Town.
Photographer: Dwayne Senior/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The omicron BA.2 sub-variant makes up almost 100% of new coronavirus infections in South Africa, Tulio de Oliveira, a bio-informatics professor who runs gene-sequencing institutions and advises the government on the pandemic, said.
“As expected, omicron BA.2 takes over in South Africa, close to 100% of the new genomes,” de Oliveira, who announced the discovery of the original omicron variant on Nov. 25, said on Twitter. “What does it mean?”